Monument record 5436/0/17 - Bronze Age and Iron Age cremations, Iron Age and Roman ditches and a Roman inhumation

Trial trench evaluation identified a number of similarly aligned, though undated, ditches. Considered likely to be medieval at the time, subsequent excavation dated them to the Iron Age-Roman period. The excavation also identified two cremation burials and an inhumation burial. Radiocarbon dates indicate that one cremation dated to the Bronze Age, another to the early Iron Age and the inhumation to the Roman period.

{1} Trial trench evaluation found four ditches and a pit/ditch. The ditches were similarly aligned and may have been a field boundary that shifted slightly over time. A single sherd of Roman pottery and two sherds of 11th-12th century St Neots Ware were found, all abraded and therefore likely to be residual. A small quantity of animal bone was recovered; there was virtually no evidence for charred plant seeds.

{2} A strip, map and sample excavation at Westhorp found two possible cremation burials. Both the small pits contained fragments of burnt bone but in both cases the pieces were too small to identify to species. Radiocarbon dates were obtained from charred seeds, one of the features dated to the Bronze Age, whilst the other dated to the early Iron Age. A small number of Iron Age ditches and pits may have been part of an enclosure, although the features appeared truncated. There were two substantial, parallel ditches as well as a small gully; one was dated to the Roman period, the other two were undated but likely to have been contemporary. Between the two ditches was an extended inhumation burial of a young adult male which was radiocarbon dated to the 3rd -4th centuries AD. Isotope analysis indicated he had a high protein diet with a small marine component.

<1> West, J & Muldowney, M., 2016, Trial trench evaluation on land at Westhorp, Greatworth, Northamptonshire August 2016 (Report). SNN110732.

<2> SLR Consulting, 2018, Land adjacent to Westhorp, Greatworth, Northamptonshire: Bronze Age cremation, Iron Age enclosure, Roman inhumation and ditch, Report on Archaeological Mitigation Programme, 2018 (Report). SNN111242.

<3> Crank, N. (Editor), 2017, South Midlands Archaeology (47), p. 41 (Journal). SNN111362.

Record last edited

Sep 21 2021 3:30PM